Sewage Incarnate

One way to get attention if you think your local officials aren't paying enough attention to sewage and water quality issues is to dress up like a giant turd and go to City Council meetings, like these guys do in the City of Rye.

Their complaint is that residents of Hen Island, which hugs the Long Island Sound shore near the mouth of Milton Harbor, have inadequate sewage disposal and that Rye isn't doing enough to change things.

I happen to know and like Mayor Steve Otis, and have worked with him on various projects, and while I don't know the merits of the Turd's arguments, I'm sure Steve considers this to be a stupid distraction.

Fewer and Fewer Lobsters

Th commercial lobster catch in Connecticut was lower last year than at any time in the past 25 years (and therefore lower than at any time since the 1999 die-off). Here's a decent account from the Stamford Advocate.

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Long Island Sound just isn't the ideal lobster habitat that it used to be, and that we'll never see a lobster industry like we used to have.

The Commerce Department's Press Release About Its Rejection of Broadwater

Here's what the Department of Commerce said in its Broadwater press release today:

The Department of Commerce concluded that the Project’s adverse coastal impacts outweighed its national interest, in part because its location in an undeveloped region of the Sound would significantly impair its unique scenic and aesthetic character and would undermine decades of federal, state, and local efforts to protect the region. The decision was based on the appeal record, which includes information developed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), additional briefs and documents offered by the parties, the views of interested federal agencies, as well as a “friend of the court” brief filed by the Attorney General of Connecticut.

Today’s ruling prevents the issuance of any federal permits necessary for the construction and operation of the Project. It does not, however, prevent Broadwater from developing alternate proposals for federal and state review.

You can read the entire press release here.

Feds Agree: No to Broadwater

Citizens Campaign for the Environment just sent out a press release saying that the U.S. Department of Commerce agrees with New York State that the Broadwater LNG terminal is wrong for Long Island Sound. The Commerce Department is upholding the state's decision of late April.

The Broadwater guys seemed to think that the decision would go their way. Read this post for immediate background although there will be more throughout the day, I'm sure.

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Nuke Plants in Cooling System-Fish Kill Suit

Nuclear power plants operators have won a Supreme Court case, brought by Riverkeeper and the Soundkeeper, about whether they would have to use a technology that limits the number of fish killed by their cooling systems. Millstone and Indian Point are among those affected by the ruling (here and here, with background here). The cost of the cooling systems can be a consideration when federal regulators are deciding whether to require them, the court said.

April 2 -- The Day has a more complete story, here.